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Topic: Found this on Kickstarter (Read 28199 times)

Well the good news is that with a z-wave one you aren't going to need an app, so there is that. The battery monitoring also seems to be working so I can figure out if the solar is really going to work or not.

I did a few things with my move... I put some rubber bands around the spool to make it a little more grippy, I slowed down the close speed (which was where the slipping seemed to be happening), and a put a little more tension on the cord loop (I used one of those Velcro command strips to mount mine which I highly suggest... lets you easily adjust the tension on the loop).

So the good news is that the calibration now seems to be working which means I eliminated the slippage. I haven't put the motor to the slowest setting to see how quiet they get and how battery usage works, so need to play around with that.

But at least I now have something that functions to open and close and stays calibrated. Good first step, and I can now try opening and closing once a day to see if the battery + solar is going to work to keep it charged.

Still waiting on them to add schedules to the app... ugg. But I am feeling a little more positive that I at least have something that now opens and closes properly.

I jumped the gun and ordered the Movez pretty early and is looking forward to test them out! One positive note that they updated us with last week that they have a new spool that the Movez will be equipped with!From the update:

Quote

Some really good news is that we have improved the cog wheel spool and all MOVEZ will be supplied with the new spool and hopefully we will also have had the chance to improve (or make) more accessories so MOVEZ will work even better with different window coverings. The ability to use special accessories for different window coverings and equip MOVEZ with the ones needed for the moment have been one of our most central goals in the basic design. Thanks to this we can continue to make improvements and all users will be able to use the improvements.

So after quite a few experiments with Move and the solar panel it is as I suspected. The solar panel is way too small to charge the batteries. Even when left for a few days with no movement on the motor, it was unable to reclaim any significant charge. So I think I am going to just use direct power with no batteries at this point.

I have found the Moves to be OK, for small light blinds if you plug them into power. Their apps is terrible and they seemed to have abandoned IOS. They integrate with nothing.

I also have a few Blind Engines from Brunt, they are a better build, quieter more powerful motor. They use WiFi and seem to be pushing for IFTTT and other integration so are a better bet in my opinion. Their support staff are also more responsive. Their app is also kind of crappy but better than the move.

I also have a few Blind Engines from Brunt, they are a better build, quieter more powerful motor. They use WiFi and seem to be pushing for IFTTT and other integration so are a better bet in my opinion. Their support staff are also more responsive. Their app is also kind of crappy but better than the move.

Have you managed to get the Brunt ones integrated with Vera? They use WIFI comms right. Is there an API where you can send JSON http commands to them to control them ?

If they have IFTTT? Then Vera can send commands to them via Webhooks I would suspect.